


I Care

by orphan_account



Series: The Telepath's Immortal [4]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternative Universe - Telepathy, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Ianto Jones & Toshiko Sato Friendship, Just bros being bros, M/M, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 21:13:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10544424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Ianto couldn't have woken up on anyone else's but Toshiko's floor and still feel perfectly comfortable.After the events of 'The Ghost Machine', Toshiko takes care of Ianto.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This really surprisingly only took two days to write (I know it's still really short). Honestly, I just wanted to give Tosh and Ianto some love, so this happened, it's kinda bad but it's fluffy soooo

Quiet murmuring filtered through Ianto’s half-asleep consciousness, not quite irritable but not the most pleasant of wake-up calls. Sluggishly, Ianto’s eyelids fluttered open and he was met with harsh sunlight that burnt against his retinas. Whimpering, he dragged his heavy arm up to cover his eyes and absently heard the mumbling stop. 

“Ianto?” A pause, enough time for Ianto to register that it was Toshiko’s melodic tones that he was hearing, and then she was speaking again, but not to him. “Yes, sorry, he just woke up. I know, he was asleep too long, but I’ll give him his medication - yes. Yes. I picked it up this morning. I won’t leave him alone again, but- yes. No. Of course, I understand. Look. I don’t know, ask Owen. Right. Goodbye Jack.”

The conversation moved far too fast for Ianto to follow, but he tried nevertheless, without much luck. Blearily, he opened his eyes again, adjusting slowly to sunlight that seeped through the thin curtains covering Toshiko’s rustic, oval curtains.

A sharp beeping as Tosh put the phone back in its holder pulled Ianto out of his reverie. He groaned, glancing up at the woman. Her eyes were bloodshot and had dark bags underneath - she mustn’t have slept for an age and her exhaustion travelled across their Link to him, weighing his eyelids down. Her hair was shiny and damp from a shower, smelling faintly of coconuts, but was still a mess as if she had run backwards through a hedge. 

Squinting, Ianto distinguished a foreign depression in his eyes, especially underneath. He wanted immediately to insist to himself that it was simply an indentation where the dark circles that most definitely resided under his eyes were, but he knew it was something else. He was too weak to muster the glamour that usually covered his bright blue gaze with human eyes. Thankfully, Toshiko didn’t seem to mind all that much.

Ianto realised fuzzily that his back was aching and his neck was horribly stiff. Although he noticed one of Tosh’s many blankets curled by his side, his spine was curled in the most horrible way, pressed into the hard wood underneath him. When he stretched up, his bones clicked appallingly loudly into place, muscles straining as he struggled to sit up. 

Vaguely, he recognised Toshiko kneeling beside him, her hand splayed over his chest to try and keep him down. Ianto hissed, pushing her hands away weakly, but was unable to achieve much more than Toshiko’s dismay at his lack of self-preservation. Moaning slightly, Ianto shook his head, choking on air at the suddenness of his headache and sagged against Toshiko’s waiting embrace, trying to escape the never ceasing pain.

Tosh pressed two painkillers into his palm and moved to pour him some water, but Ianto whimpered when the tech moved. She settled for coaxing him to swallow them dry, stroking her fingers unartistically through his messy hair. After about ten minutes of them cuddled together - Ianto had lazily laid back down, burrowing into the blankets like a lackadaisical cat - the pain in Ianto’s temples faded.

“How-” Ianto started, swallowing thickly around the dryness in his throat past the words that had stuck there. “How long have I been out?”

Toshiko glanced down at him, allowing the Gifted to nuzzle closer in search of more warmth. “Two days. I tried to move you, but you made this horrible sound whenever I did, so I just tried to make you as comfortable as possible.” Ianto urged her onwards softly, a gentle push through their Link that he dared try despite the agony it had brought him the last time he tried. It was a pleasing event this time, considering Ianto’s mental defences had healed themselves rather nicely. 

“Owen is worried about you, surprisingly; I think he’s rather hurt that he didn’t see you were quite so close to a hospital visit. He is your doctor after all and your friend - don’t give me that look! You love him too, admit it.”

Sighing dramatically, Ianto flipped completely over from his back to his side to face Tosh, attempting to sustain a perturbed expression but broke out in a tiny smile at Toshiko’s beam. It was true. Despite his avid insistence against it, he honestly did love Owen. The medic meant a lot to him as a friend, and although he had only been conscious for about twenty minutes, he already missed the insufferable doctor.

“And obviously, Jack is incredibly worried,” Toshiko added, her words slurring and lengthening as she hit ‘incredibly’. It would have been sarcastic and mocking had it been anyone else talking to him, but coming from Tosh, it was surprisingly genuine. Reassurance sang through their Link and of course, Toshiko knew before him that he was so very madly in love with Jack of all people. 

“He and Owen are coming over either tonight or tomorrow morning. They’re not really sure when they’ll have some spare time since the Rift might be active. They are really worried about you, you know? And so am I, for that matter, so I want every detail, if you’re feeling up to it,” Tosh added quickly, nervous to see Ianto’s reaction. She knew the telepath was awfully conflicted about his feelings for Jack - he hated being taken care of.

Groaning, Ianto rolled his eyes in good nature, a soft smile decorated his lips. His cheeks flushed a deep red at the insinuation underneath Tosh’s words but refused to ruin the comfortable atmosphere by insisting something different. 

“I don’t like hospitals.”

“That isn’t an explanation, Ianto,” Tosh replied, a tiny warning on her tongue as she said his name. 

“Okay, okay. All of my previous hospital visits have been a bit of a mess, so I’ve always had a bit of apprehension when I have to stay there. I snuck out, at first because I-I-I couldn’t spend a night there,” Ianto broke off, his voice cracking slightly and he knew that this would happen, knew that he would break down.

Toshiko ran her hands through his hair once more, slowly and comfortingly. Fortunately, she didn’t push Ianto to speak until he was ready. Once the large, ornate clock above Toshiko’s mantelpiece turned so awfully quickly half an hour forward and Ianto encouraged himself to speak, Toshiko was half asleep in his embrace.

“I think I sensed you or, erm, Owen - sensed that Morgan was in danger. Yeah, I know, I have absolutely no attachment to him, nor any reason to help him, but it would be so much worse if...is he still alive?!”

“Of course he is, darling. You saved him, it’s alright, he’s fine; as fine as he can be,” Toshiko assured, grinning softly. It was as if she was Ianto’s proud parent, slow, steady consolations leaving her lips to hearten him. Ianto sighed contentedly; although he didn’t know Ed, nor would he have particularly wanted to, he was relieved that he didn’t waste the time struggling over if Ed didn’t even make it. 

“Oh, okay...well. I got his address from your text this morning and I went over and Owen had the knife. But it was fine because he put it down and then it wasn’t fine anymore because Gwen grabbed it and made sure it was pointing towards everyone - I swear, was she even taught basic safety in the police force?”

Toshiko snickered, enthralled when she felt Ianto’s own amusement through their Link. If she could read him quite so easily, it was proof that their Link was growing even stronger. “And Ed went to hug Gwen so I...I kind of did magic? I’m not sure how humans would describe it, but I made sure that Gwen moved the knife just an inch to the right so that the wound wasn’t fatal-”

“That blue spark was you, then?” Toshiko interrupted for the first time in their conversation. She halfway knew the answer already, but she wanted to make sure it came from Ianto before she made any judgements. When Ianto nodded shyly, hiding his face in half-embarrassment, half-anticipation of Toshiko’s negative response.

“It was gorgeous, you know? I mean, the circumstances were pretty damn terrible, but your magic, Ianto...would you ever be able to show me it? In a nicer situation, maybe? It’s just so very pretty and so, so....good. It was good, your magic is so good.”

Ianto bolted up as she insisted sharply upon his virtuous power - it hurt so very badly to hear because, in any other circumstance, someone calling his powers good would be a threat. He was deemed a powerful Gifted, due to the legends about those with markings the same as his, and other Gifteds were obsessed with telling him every time they saw his blue runes. 

Certain Gifteds had the ability to steal and harness his elemental magic; Ianto was always taught as a child to never show someone the extent of his magic. It was a danger. It was a danger to be complimented on his magic - it inferred a knowledge that could destroy Ianto. 

“I-I-I’m not. They’re not, don’t say that, you can’t-”

Tosh shushed him, rubbing his tense shoulders in an attempt to calm the young telepath. It worked for a while, enough for Ianto to explain vaguely why he was so very terrified at the simple praise. Satisfied with the small conversation, she clumsily stood up, pulling Ianto with her. His legs were weak and it took a moment for him to adjust.

“You hungry?” Tosh asked gently. 

“Starving.”


End file.
